LOVE VS HATRED : TANISHQ AD BACKLASH
Author: SUNDARA BHARATHI A
Image source - Telegraph
It’s the year 2020, Abdul Kalam wanted India to became a super power in this year. But here we are handling another religious outrage and backlash in the internet over a small gold Ad which promoted Inter- faith marriage. Few days back Tanishq a Jewellery shop owned by TATA companies released a new Ad to showcase their new collection of gold brand called “Ekatvam” which means oneness. In that ad they featured a Muslim family arranges a traditional Hindu baby shower for their Hindu Daughter in law. The daughter in law in that Ad asks her mother in law “this custom isn’t part of your family”, and she replies “keeping daughters happy is the custom of every household”. The whole concept of the Ad is to show case the concept of a family celebrating a different ritual for their lovely daughter in law which shows the beautiful unity of two different religion, cultures and tradition.
Image source - Boomlive
As soon as they updated the ad on YouTube, it got huge backlash on the internet with the trending hashtag “#boycottanishq”. Large number of people disliked the video and the comment section filled with hatred and negative comments. The huge backlash made the company to pull down the video from YouTube and they released an apology statement for hurting religious sentiments. Even after the apology, a Tanishq shop manager has to face an oral attack by a man who condemns that Ad.[1]In that apology statement they also mentioned that they took this decision considering the wellbeing of their staffs. It shows how certain backlash in social media can bend down the big companies like TATA. All this negativity and outrage for a small Ad which promotes inter faith marriage, love and lots of positivity. The argument of the people who are all against this Ad is what if it was in a reverse way, a Muslim daughter in law in a Hindu family. The answer is nothing will change those haters will come up on comments like how dare they celebrate a Muslim ceremony in a Hindu family. The problem is not only with the religion but also with gender because if a minority community man married a woman from a majoritarian community it is considered as a defeat for that community. Women are often seen as an object or a winning commodity.
In India religious fight are mostly common over various kinds of issue. The attack against the people who marries from other caste and community is never ending tragedy in India. But outrage and angry over a small ad makes feels like something wrong in this society. The hate goes on to the extend and criticized the concept of secularism which holds the constitutional value in our country. The word secularism is not a good word in recent times, I agree if we started to preach means people will come on and school us with various kind of communal hate so let’s leave that point. There is nothing wrong in that Ad which amounts to boycott or ban, on the contrary it promotes a good thing which cherishes communal harmony. After lot of hateful events now Tanishq gets support from Advertising bodies over irrelevant attack.[2] The advertising club issues a statement that they standby team Tanishq and strongly condemn the aggression. And also, lots of women who married across religion started to share their pictures of baby shower which is happened in their in-law’s house who has different religion background. Actor Zeeshan Ayyub’s wife shared her beautiful pictures of god barai.[3] Writer Mrinal Pande wrote her inter faith story, that her daughter who married Muslim men and how the both families celebrated and welcomed their grandchild. Suhasini Haider a prominent journalist also daughter of BJP leader Subramanian Swamy showed concern to this matter and explained how their family is still strong with different community people. Yes, at the same time violent incidents also happening to the people who marryacross the community. That doesn’t mean everybody should act like that. Using words like “love jihad” and “love terrorism” to a particular community is still not acceptable.
This whole incident is the example of how people easily spread hate and the power of hate through social media is highly toxic. The attachment to your religion which makes you hate another people’s faith, culture or any kind of communal harmony means it clearly shows the problem is not with the religion, it is with the people.
REFERENCES
[1]Tanishq store puts up apology note over with drawn advertisement, TIMES OF INDIA ( OCTOBER 14, 2020) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/gujarat-tanishq-store-puts-up-apology-note-over-withdrawn-ad/articleshow/78657107.cms. [2]AD bodies condemns social media backlash against tanishq call its extremely concerning, INDIAN EXPRESS ( October 15 2020) https://www.newindianexpress.com/business/2020/oct/15/ad-bodies-condemnsocial-media-backlash-against-tanishq-calls-attack-extremely-concerning-2210516.html [3] Tanishq Ad: Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub’s wife and others share personal inter faith stories, THE INDIAN EXPRESS ( October 17 2020). https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/life-style/tanishq-ad-interfaith-events-hindu-muslim-families-twitter-6737419/